Congress has extended copyright terms eleven times in the last 40
years, each time further distorting the balance between private
incentive and enrichment of the public domain. When the Sonny Bono
Copyright Term Extension Act added 20 years to existing and future
copyrights, Eric Eldred and other commercial and non-commercial users
of public domain works sued.

Copyright law requires a balancing of the interest of copyright
holders against the rights of everyone
else. Artists are entitled -- despite the
arguments of Napster and its defenders -- to a
property interest in their work for a reasonable
period of time. But the public also has an
interest in seeing that copyrights eventually
lapse, and that creative work enters the public
domain with no need to pay
royalties. Contemporary artists are then free to
borrow from these older works, a creative
tradition that dates back to the ancients.

[...]

The purpose of the 1998 Congressional extension was not protecting
artists, but enriching media companies that
hold property rights in their creations,
virtually in perpetuity. The founders did
not envision copyright being put to this
use, and the Supreme Court should not allow
it.

QUESTIONS PRESENTED:

1. Did the D.C. Circuit err in holding that Congress has the power
under the Copyright Clause to extend retroactively the term of
existing copyrights?

2. Is a law that extends the term of existing and future copyrights
"categorically immune from challenge[] under the First Amendment"?

Legal
Filings: Read our opening
brief and the numerous amici ("friends of the court") supporting Eldred's case
--
including multiple Nobel laureate economists, the Free Software
Foundation, constitutional and IP law profs, the American Library
Association, the Eagle Forum, the American Historical Association,
distinguished historians, and Intel Corp. An amazing group
of people and institutions spanning the ideological and sectoral
spectrums.

Eric Eldred and we at the Berkman Center
think the Sonny Bono Act robs the American public of the rich and diverse
public domain guaranteed by the Constitution. If you would like to help us reclaim
that public space, first
register and then
come collaborate.
See also the companion case of Golan v. Ashcroft.